Supergirl “Pilot” Review

One of our most anticipated new shows has finally aired. Was it super? Find out here.

To start things off, Supergirl had a lot going against her even before the show premiered. Matching the success of The Flash and Arrow was a tall order for Supergirl, good thing, though, that the premiere episode was able to deliver the goods.

The show didn’t waste any time as it gave us a run down of the origin story, the one where Kara was sent to guard Kal-El (Superman) to Earth, and then being trapped in the Phantom Zone and later escaping only to find out that Superman doesn’t need her help anymore. Fast forward to today and she’s an assistant to Cat Grant, a wealthy, powerful boss in National City.

From there the story slowed down a little, but only to give us an idea of how this universe would feel like. We were also introduced to a lot of supporting characters, all of which had their time to shine, especially her sister Alex, and James Olsen.

As for how she became Supergirl, it went by in a flash. The main highlight of which is her first heroic act in saving the airplane, where Alex rode, from crashing then revealing herself to National City. From there a montage of heroic acts followed, until she finally donned the suit.

With the pilot episode already packed with lots of expository stuff, you’d think there was hardly any time to build character backstories. But the surprising thing is this, the whole pilot episode was able to put a lengthy story into a one hour episode.

The biggest source of drama here was between Kara and her sister Alex. From the get go the relationship between the sisters were the focal point, which I expect would continue in the near future. We get how the sisters approach each other, where one aims to be as good as the other, while the other aims to downplay her ability. It served as a good-hearted family episode.

As for the villain, really not built-up, but with an episode this packed I’m sure the viewers didn’t mind. Heck, I didn’t even mind.

The biggest thing I’m excited about here is the dynamic between this team that Kara has. Between James Olsen, Alex, the whole D.E.O. and Winslow, we have the makings of a team that could rival that of Green Arrow’s or the Flash’s.

Few quick things:

The show never shied away from Superman. He was featured early on and was a driving force throughout the episode.

That part where James Olsen revealed that Superman was pushing for Kara to reveal herself was awesome!

The effects were pretty robust, except for some clunky ones during the main fight.

Former Superman, Dean Cain, was also in the pilot as Kara’s adoptive father. I believe we’ll see more of him.

The characters were also cast perfectly. Melissa Benoist really exuded that nerdy girl type and was very believable as Supergirl. Same goes for the other cast members.

The Score: 3.75/5

The pilot episode gave us a solid back story, but it still felt rushed at times. It really is hard to have any origin story for any superhero once you get treated to a barrage of origin stories. There is still some room for improvement, but generally, the whole episode was good!

Gino is the Gladiators’ resident TV and comic book reviewer. He is a lawyer in the making at day and full-on geek by night. He believes that the lightsaber is the best weapon during a zombie apocalypse. #AgeOfTheGeek